Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Classically mild



(link)

We likes. We thinks it's brilliant. And not just because we's had a long and fruitful relationship with Raaga Des right through our childhood. We likes even though it contains shirtless Sonu Nigam dressed like a naked warrior.

We also listened to the rest of the album on raaga.com. The rest of the album is okay. It's like, you can see that the intention to blow your mind is there in the album, but actual mind-blowing only happens in this particular song. It's a great concept, fusion of Hindustani classical music with the discordant chords of jazz, previously adopted by Sushila Raman and maybe others. But the discordance, the vocal gyrations of classical music, combined with the frenetic pace of jazz only occur in this song. The rest of the album is less jazzy and more mainstream Indian pop.

I don't know, perhaps with repeated listens, it will grow on me like a french beard.

21 comments:

Blogeswari said...

The album is an overload of hindustani jazz blah blah.. I mean, it was more of "see what all I can mish mash and render"
The fusion was more of confusion - inda jazz, inda hindustani, inda western eduthukko kinds

gawker said...

Yeah, not too crazy about the rest of the album. This song is awesome though.

Anonymous said...

not bad. a bit ghisa-pita, i thought. but it's been a while since i heard indian fusion, so it was fun to listen to this. des raag is generally melodious.

i don't like sonu nigam too much, but that boy can sing! after your comment about a shirt-less sonu, i studiously avoided the video.

gawker said...

The song or the album? I thought the song was very good. The rest of the album is mainstream indi-pop. Yes, and he should put his shirt back on or grow some chest hair.

A Motley Tunic said...

Sonu Nigam looks more like Jesus Christ, a muscular one at that, than a warrior to me. What's with that crown?

gawker said...

Yes you are right, he is Jesus Christ, maybe wearing the crown of thorns that they made him wear during crucifixion.

Unknown said...

yuck @ sonu. but lovely song. do post more such finds. I for one am on the lookout to diversify my music tastes, and "hindustani jazz" is quite up my alley.

gawker said...

Everybody hates Sonu Nigam for some reason. But everyone likes his voice. We are a conflicted people. Did you check out the Susheela Raman link? She has a unique musical style too.

Anonymous said...

I like Sonu Nigam, because I like his voice. They are one and the same to me! In Indian music talent shows and once on an FM radio show live, he did some amazing mimicry of different styles of singing. He's extremely talented!
-MK

gawker said...

Yeah he has an amazing voice. And in this song, it just transcends everything. He should get someone else to act in his videos. Somehow it is very irritating to see him in person.

zambezi said...

cos he is trying to be something that he aint.

gawker said...

what is he and whats he trying to be?

Anonymous said...

Minimized the window about 5 seconds after sonu came on screen and yes, unfortunately, stopped listening to the song after 1:51 minutes.

zambezi said...

i think you have a crish on sonu's naked bosom.

zambezi said...

what is a crish?

gawker said...

bhad : yes classical music is often difficult to digest for the uninitiated. But I love this song.

zambezi : A crish is when you type "crush" too fast because you are just too excited and can't wait to type "naked bosom"

Anonymous said...

Are you calling me dumb because I didn't like a song that you posted on your blog?

gawker said...

jeje no i'm just being a patronizing prick.

zambezi said...

he did call you dumb bhaddax.

zambezi said...

if you actually not watch the video and listen to the music, it is pretty good.

gawker said...

When I closed the browser after writing my previous comment, I said to myself, what are the chances that my dear friend zambezi would come along and try to apply matchstick to tinder? So I placed a bet that he would. I am glad to report that I won.